Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 340 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,454 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 340 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $2,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cabot by 197.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cabot by 22.0% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 831 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cabot by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBT has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Cabot Stock Up 0.6 %

CBT opened at $85.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19. Cabot Co. has a one year low of $83.53 and a one year high of $117.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $88.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Cabot

Cabot Corporation operates as a specialty chemicals and performance materials company. The company operates through two segments, Reinforcement Materials and Performance Chemicals. It offers reinforcing carbons that are used in tires as a rubber reinforcing agent and performance additive, as well as in industrial products, such as hoses, belts, extruded profiles, and molded goods; and engineered elastomer composites solutions.